This week we are publishing a special guest review by Paul Depaola, who will be writing comic reviews for EUCantina in the future.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead! Well, not really. That is what we are lead to believe in the opening scenes of the latest episode of The Clone Wars.

Episode 15: “Deception” is the opening to a 4-part story arc surrounding the Seperatist threat to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine.

This episode was written by Brent Friedman and directed by Kyle Dunlevy. The Jedi fortune cookie for this episode was “All warfare is based on deception.”

“Deception” opens with the criminal, Moralo Eval, being brought into the Republic prison on Coruscant. Eval is working with Dooku to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. The Jedi, in an attempt to put someone inside Eval’s operation and uncover his plans, stage the murder of Obi-Wan Kenobi by Rako Hardeen.

It’s not enough for them to just have someone say he murdered Obi-wan; they need to have a body, and in what may end up being the flaw in their plan, Anakin is left out and believes his master and friend has been killed by some Coruscant underworld scum. However, as Obi-Wan himself says, “Keeping Anakin on the outside is critical, everyone knows how close we are. It was his reaction that sold the sniper.”

Obi-Wan gets a haircut and has to shave off his most epic of beards. After some Star Trek Next Gen style facial reconstruction to look like his would be killer, the real Hardeen is “put to sleep” by Mace Windu and Obi-Wan is sent off to prison.

In prison he is to work his way into Moralo Eval’s group and do what he can to stop whatever is being planned for the Chancellor.

The Republic prison is filled to the brim with baddies from the previous season of the show, including Bossk, Boba Fett, and Cad Bane. (Although we do not know the circumstances around Cad Bane’s arrest or if he simply broke himself into prison.) Nevertheless, he has been hired by Eval to break his crew out of prison so that they can continue on with the mission of kidnapping the Chancellor.

Bane is distrustful of Obi-Wan, but Eval seems to be buying the Jedi’s act. A prison riot later and the convicts are on the run, escaping from the prison with the help of Boba Fett. Security at the prison seemed rather lax, considering who was in custody. So you have to wonder if the Jedi or the Republic had arranged it to make the plan work smoother.

The episode ends with Bane, Eval and Obi-Wan stealing a freighter and blasting off into the Coruscant sky, Bane still seeming not to trust Obi-Wan. We are left wondering what Bane has figured out or if he simply just doesn’t trust anyone.

“Deception” continues the top notch animation of the show. The acting is as stellar as always. The music seems to be the most uneven part of the show. It does not help to sell the tension of the opening chase and “death” of Obi-Wan. It seems to be far too light and jazzy, echoing more of the sounds of Ziro’s nightclub from the Clone Wars film than the chase through Coruscant from the Attack of the Clones soundtrack. The music does help to ratchet up the tension in the prison, and it’s nice to hear the return of Boba Fett’s theme.

The funeral echoes the emotional resonance of Qui-Gon’s funeral in The Phantom Menace, and we can see this in Anakin’s face, hooded and in shadow. We see hints of the darkness in his face that we will see again on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith.

Since I am a costuming and armor nerd, I can’t let any review go by without discussing those aspects. The prison is guarded by the red shock troopers (now in their Phase 2 armor) that we saw after the duel in the Senate in Revenge of the Sith, and the dress uniform clones have gained a new hat.

Being that this is the first episode in a 4-part arc, it doesn’t do much to answer questions, but it does raise some exciting ones. Returning characters like Cad Bane, Bossk and Boba Fett do help to give the feel of a much larger over-arching storyline connecting all the episodes past, and that the show as a whole is moving forward and not just giving us a “Battle of the Week” story.

About the Author

Paul joined the EUCantina staff in 2012, combining his love of Star Wars and his obsession with comic books. He has been a Star Wars fan since the early 80's and is always finding a way to tie Star Wars into every facet of his life.
Paul lives in Virginia. He loves movies, plays guitar and is TK-5990, a proud member of the 501st Legion.